Huge restrictions are being introduced for Brits this year and it'll make it harder to get onto certain websites.
The new laws, which are being brought in to target sites that host pornography or other adult content, will be in full effect this summer.
Porn sites across the UK must soon start to ID users before they are permitted to access any content to stop children from being exposed to the 18+ content.
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The guidelines have been outlined by regulator Ofcom, who have set a deadline of July 2025 for sites to bring in these new age checks.
The likes of PornHub and OnlyFans are just a couple of the sites that will be impacted by the change, with 'robust' age checks soon to be a necessity.
Ofcom has detailed that services that show pornography or other forms of adult content will need to place age assurance tools in place to prove that the user is not underage - some of these methods can be photo ID matching, facial age estimation or credit card checks.
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Ofcom's chief executive, Melanie Dawes, said (via The Daily Mail): "For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services,
"Either they don't ask or, when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. That means companies have effectively been treating all users as if they're adults, leaving children potentially exposed to porn and other types of harmful content.
"Today, this starts to change."
Essentially, using the internet might be about to get a lot harder. Pun unintended.
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That's not all though, as all of the details have been laid out in the Online Safety Act, which will come into enforcement in just six months.
Under this new act, even the likes of social media and search services will have to carry out a children's access assessment, which will reveal if their site is likely to be visited by children - this has a deadline of 16 April to complete.
The regulator has also explained that it will publish codes of practice for said sites, which will explain how they will implement measures to keep young internet users safe.
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Sites will have to implement any required measures, which could be age checks, while any site will have to add this in if they allow pornography.
Dame Melanie went on: "As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services. Services which host their own pornography must start to introduce age checks immediately, while other user-to-user services – including social media – which allow pornography and certain other types of content harmful to children will have to follow suit by July at the latest."
The Ofcom CEO also said that they would be 'monitoring the response' from the industry, while websites that fail to comply 'can expect to face enforcement action from Ofcom'.
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They also listed a few 'non- exhaustive' technologies that may be implemented for age verification, such as:
- Open banking
- Photo ID matching
- Facial age estimation
- Mobile network operator age checks
- Credit card checks
- Digital identity services
- Email-based age estimation
Experts at safeguarding companies have weighed in on the move, with the head of regulatory and public affairs at Verifymy, Lina Ghazal, adding that it's a 'pivotal moment' to make the internet 'a safer place'.
She concluded: "The regulator's long-awaited guidance on age assurance means adult content providers now have the clarity they need to get their houses in order and put in place robust and reliable methods to keep explicit material well away from underage users."
LADbible Group has contacted Pornhub and OnlyFans for comment.
Topics: Technology, Social Media, UK News
Joshua Nair